Study tracks concerns about 3-D TV sets

NEW YORK (AP) -A study about consumer attitudes toward 3-D television found many who were less interested in the technology after they actually experienced it.

Still, 52 percent of consumers who tried out 3-D televisions said it was a better experience than they had expected, according to a study conducted by The Nielsen Co. for the Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing. The study was released Thursday.

"There is a lot of interest in 3-D TV but there are barriers that you have to overcome to make it a successful experience,'' said Char Beales, president and CEO of the association.

Aside from the cost of buying 3-D sets at a time the technology is just becoming available, the glasses required to watch them are a major hindrance. Fifty-seven percent of people surveyed cited the glasses as a reason they were not likely to buy a set. Nearly nine in 10 people worry that it will constrain them from multitasking while the TV is on, the survey said.

It suggests that the true breakthrough for the technology won't come until sets are developed that allow 3-D viewing without the glasses, Beales said.

The percentage of people who said they were interested in buying a 3-D set during the next year went down when these willing consumers were brought in to see how it worked, Nielsen said.

People are also concerned there is not enough 3-D programming available yet to make a purchase worthwhile.

More than three-quarters of people surveyed said 3-D viewing is best-suited to special events like sports or movies than regular TV viewing, the survey said.

Seven in 10 regular gamers expressed interest in playing games in 3-D, Nielsen said.

Nielsen conducted focus groups and a survey of 425 randomly selected people who answered questions and watched a 30-minute highlight reel of 3-D television. The margin of error is plus or minus 5 percentage points.